Commissions

I'm happy and flattered when someone requests that I paint a certain scene.  They've seen my paintings and like my style, but the problem is usually they have a pre-conceived idea of what the painting will look like and what elements will be included.

Boat commissions are the worst.  Not being a sailor myself, at first I would omit certain gadgets and do-dads that were very important to the owner.  Eventually I learned quite a bit about the gear on a working vessel.

I also don't do portraits.  As John Singer Sargent said, "A portrait is something where there's always something wrong with the nose."

But a couple of days ago, I had a request to paint a subject I am very familiar with.  Grimes Cove at the beginning of Ocean Point is a favorite with local artists.  Yesterday I did a half sheet of the cove, emailed the image to the client, and she was most pleased!  

Things are beginning to slow down here in Maine.  Kids are back in school, so the families are gone.  The light has shifted, and there are plenty of parking spots downtown.  I love September in Maine.

Don't forget;  I still have openings in my workshop September 9th - 13th.  Contact me at
caroljessen@yahoo.com  

"Do You Work From Photographs?"

The Cuckold's Light

Well, sort of.  But when I do, there's always an intermediate step: the value sketch.

That's the way I work out two important things: the design and the values.  

Here's an example.  This view of Cuckold's Lighthouse which is located on a ledge off shore can only be seen by boat.  Since I can't set up my easel on board a boat, I took a photo.  Today I used the photo to make the sketch, and then painted it this afternoon.

The value sketch provides another important advantage.  I'm not a slave to color.  I feel free to modify or invent color to come in aid of the painting.  Gray rocks become a warm area to contrast with the sky and water.  I also added the sailboat for balance.

Try the intermediate step when working from photos, and then paint from the sketch!

A Second Painting

I used to be able to paint two paintings in one day easily, but, alas, I'm slowing down these days.
However, not wanting to waste the day, I painted two paintings at the Artists on the Lawn event at my friend Jan Kilburn's annual event on Saturday. There was a tractor across the road, and since Jan and her neighbor are building a new chicken coop on their adjoining properties, I decided it would be appropriate to throw in some chickens to the scene.

Today I decided to switch to my flat brushes again and the style that I loved last summer.  Two versions of the same subject:  one traditional, and the next, a little more colorful and free style.

Try to re-invent a scene with a different technique.  More colorful and looser.

Look Up!

"The Weathervane"

I've already discussed looking down for subject matter this summer.  Now I want to talk about looking up!

Yesterday was the annual Artists on the Lawn event at my friend Jan Kilburn's house/studio/garden.  While other artists were looking at the very beautiful flowers at eye level in Jan's gardens, I looked up at the roof of her house and saw this weathervane.

Choosing a subject because of its worm's eye view has several built in advantages.  First is that your perspective provides a chance to utilize obliques (diagonals) to create a bit more tension.  Second, the focus narrows a bit because there is not as much to see.  Third, architectural features are not as frequent as the ubiquitous flower painting.

While I was painting this, one of the other artists came by and admitted that she probably would have painted the doorway of the house, the flowers, the flower pots on the steps, and the trellis next to it.  I see this as a major drawback of most student artists.  The perceived need is to include everything that is in the scene while eliminating the focus on one specific thing.  If your title would be "The flowers, the flower pots, the doorway, the window, the steps and the trellis next to the doorway",   you've probably included too much.  Titling your painting ahead of time focuses your attention on what attracted you to the subject in the first place.

Bottom line:  Look up, look down.  Change your perspective in more ways than one!

Seasonal Flowers

Each year I paint daisies in June, Queen Anne's Lace in August and Rugosa Roses and Rose Hips in September.  Things are a bit early this year, so here are the rose hips at Ocean Point.  

Red and green are not only Christmas colors; they are also complementary colors.  The red of the fruit stands out because of the green, but I made sure to vary the greens, both in color and value.
I painted the red fruit first and then surrounded them with the greens.  

Influences

Water Lilies at Lobster Cove

Sometimes a painter will "own" a subject.  Every time I paint a sailboat, I am coming up against the work of Winslow Homer.  And yesterday I decided to paint the water lilies at the end of Lobster Cove which put me in competition with Claude Monet.  

The solution is to know your style and your own procedure so that the result will be consistent with your own style and technique.  First of all, I used my own medium.  Monet painted his water lilies in oil; I used my medium of choice: watercolor.  

Also, the  use of watercolor makes possible the wet-in-wet charging of colors and blending of colors at the edges of shapes in a way that isn't as easy with oils.

I painted around the blooms of the lilies and then painted in the pink blossoms.  To get that pink, I used a bit of Chinese white mixed with alizarin.  The pink contrasts nicely with the complementary color of green. 

The dark reflections also helped focus attention on the lighter blooms.  I had to paint fast so as to avoid hard edges and oozles.  Pre-wetting the area helped keep the area fresh so I could freely dash in the dark tones.  I also kept the number of lilies to a minimum to allow the dark shapes of the reflections to stand out.  For that reason also, I confined the blooms to the edge of the dark shape and mostly to the foreground. 

In conclusion, You can take inspiration from the subject matter of artists who came before you.  Just make sure you are true to your own vision of that subject.

The Power of Warm Hues

My choice of blues has altered slightly this summer.  I'm leaning towards the cooler blues: thalo, manganese, blue turquoise.  But what has also become clearer to me is that blue's complement, orange, can also intensify the blues, and vice versa.

In this painting of one of my favorite lobster boats in the Harbor, I looked a long time at the traps at the stern of the boat.  The longer I looked, the more I noticed how the brown traps had a bit of orange light shining through.  After putting down the sky,  the warmer clouds and the underpainting for the water, I immediately went to that area of orange.  I charged in a bit of greenish hue to break up the orange square and the result seemed to glow.  Inside the cabin there were also undertones of a duller orange.  Surrounded by blues, the orange areas took on an added aura of importance.

The other reason I painted the boat was because of all the textures protruding against the sky.  Lines and little shapes help describe the equipment on board a working lobster boat.

Finally, there was the decision, as always, to eliminate unnecessary elements in the background.  There were approximately 50 boats out in the harbor plus the shoreline and all the flotsam and jetsam on the dock.  I added one boat in the background for balance, and then the barrel on the dock for the same reason.  

Still, I'll bet your eye goes right to the rear of the boat and that glowing orange.  Grouping your warmer colors and surrounding them with cooler colors will surely help guide your viewer's eye where you want it to go.

As always, please share my blogsite with your artist friends and invite them to become a follower.

Seasonal Subjects

It's blueberry picking time in Maine!  I think the smaller, thinner-skinned blueberries here in Maine are juicier and tastier than the larger blueberries in Michigan.  

There are two ways to pick blueberries.   Bush blueberries can be picked by hand.  Ground blueberries are harvested by raking them in back-breaking fashion.  

This scene is just outside Bucksport, Maine.  Painting to follow!